Review: The Ocean at the End of the Lane

Author: Neil Gaiman
Series: Standalone
Publisher: William Morrow (Harper Collins)
Release: June 18th 2013
Source: Purchased 
Pages: 259 (ebook)
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Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.

Forty years earlier, a man committed suicide in a stolen car at this farm at the end of the road. Like a fuse on a firework, his death lit a touchpaper and resonated in unimaginable ways. The darkness was unleashed, something scary and thoroughly incomprehensible to a little boy. And Lettie—magical, comforting, wise beyond her years—promised to protect him, no matter what.

A groundbreaking work from a master, The Ocean at the End of the Lane is told with a rare understanding of all that makes us human, and shows the power of stories to reveal and shelter us from the darkness inside and out. It is a stirring, terrifying, and elegiac fable as delicate as a butterfly's wing and as menacing as a knife in the dark.

The Ocean at the End of the Lane is the first Neil Gaiman novel I have read so far. Although unfamiliar with his work, I have indeed heard a lot of praises regarding his other novels. I was very curious and excited about his style of story telling and the fantasy world he built for us fellow readers. And after finishing the book, I would totally say that I for one will be following closely with Neil Gaiman's future publishing activities.

The majority of the book is written in terms of a seven-year-old boy's perspective, which Gaiman admitted later on that it was roughly based on himself at the age. The story unfolds as the narrator recalls his childhood friend, Lettie Hempstocks, a somewhat mysterious girl who seem to know things that are far beyond the boundary of ordinary reality. Their adventures began as an abrupt suicide disturbed the balance of their neighborhood. From there, the narrator's normal life quickly turned into a terrifying nightmare mixed with mythical creatures that was once shielded from the world. 

I really enjoyed reading this book. It's fairly short and easy to read. Gaiman's writing allowed me to have lots of vivid imaginations. I can almost see the "ocean" at the end of the lane and the Hempstock farm that guards the bounds of reality and fantasy. I loved the ending as well! I was overwhelmed with feelings as I read through the last chapter when the story gets back to the current day. There are so much more I want to know about the narrator and Lettie, but I do think it ended at a great moment.

If you haven't read this book yet, make sure to check it out. I can promise you will fall in love with it :)

My Rating: ★★★★ (4 stars)